HGTV Star Alison Victoria Says This Book Changed Her Life

Alison Victoria always knew she wanted to be an interior designer. At 9 years old, she'd rearrange her room and plan out paint colors and lighting schemes, and that passion only intensified as she got older, inspiring her to study interior architecture at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

"It's very easy to stay on course when you know what you want to do," she says. Ever focused, she got a job for a Vegas-based homebuilder right after graduation, getting in on the construction boom that was sweeping the city. When the company expanded to Park City, Utah, she moved out there, building single-family cottages and cabins for skiers.

After about two years in Utah, she started to feel comfortable—and that's when she knew it was time for a change. And found the book that took her career to the next level.

"I realized that I was sick of giving the keys back to the owners at the end," Alison explains. "I want to do all the pretty stuff. I want to do the window treatments and furniture, and the area rugs and lighting and accessories. So I read this book called Secrets of Six-Figure Women, like cover to cover, and quit my job."

The book was that compelling. Written by former journalist Barbara Stanny, the guide blends research with more than 150 interviews with women who earn anywhere from $100,000 to $7 million, sharing their most actionable insights for boosting your earning potential. It breaks everything down into seven things top-earners have in common—namely, a profit motive, audacity, resilience, encouragement, self-awareness, non-attachment, and financial know-how—which Alison committed to her life as she mapped out her next steps. And in doing so, she gave both her boss (and herself) a little margin to get things in place.

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"I said, 'Hey, I’m not going to quit today or in two weeks,'" she says, explaining that she gradually built her design firm—Alison Victoria Interiors—while working for the homebuilder. She incorporated the tactics from the book, soon landing bigger and bigger clients, including ones in her hometown of Chicago.

"Then the economy crashed," she adds. Alison was down—but not out. She'd built a name for herself, and it was starting to pay off: "I all of the sudden get this call from the president of this casino in Vegas. He was like, ‘Hey, we’re doing a $130 million expansion, and we would love to interview you.’ Next thing I knew, I was moving back to Vegas, I got the job, and I was the creative director there for almost five years, when I got a random email from a production company in LA."

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They were looking for designers for a design show. They flew to Chicago to check out one of her projects and liked what they saw, offering her a position as a ghost designer for HGTV.

"I didn’t know what that meant. What that meant was I do all the work, I get zero credit, and I’m not on television. I was like, 'Done!' Oh, and I get paid peanuts. I was like, 'Done! I’ll take it,'" Alison laughs. "So I took the job, and thank God I did, because ultimately, the production company was like, 'We see something here.' They started filming me and my life, and the network pitched an idea for a show for me. I regretfully declined. It just didn’t make much sense in my world."

"I'm probably going to do 10 more things in my life. I'm just getting started."

Later, though, she found the right fit. While watching Yard Crashers, Bath Crashers and the like on DIY, she had what Oprah would call an "Aha!" moment: " I was like, 'Wait, they’re all dudes. There should be a woman in this space,'" Alison remembers. "Now that I had a contact, I was like, 'I’m going to pitch myself as the first female crasher and do kitchens,' and that was it."

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The project was green-lit immediately. Like so immediately that she got a notification they'd start filming in two months. "All of the sudden, I had a TV show. I didn’t know what the hell was going on. I definitely didn’t think it was going to last for more than one season, so I didn’t quit my day jobs," Alison says. "We went 9 seasons."

By season 7, Alison could design kitchens in her sleep—and knew it was time for a bigger challenge. So she bought her first flip and decided to do a show around it, filming a sizzle reel herself and pitching it to network executives. That show became Windy City Rehab, one of HGTV's breakout hits. (The debut season was a top 10 cable program among women aged 25-54 in its Tuesday night time slot.)

On the side, she's still maintaining that six-figure woman hustle, running a Chicago-based lifestyle magazine, Sophisticated Living, and starring in other HGTV shows, like its upcoming competition series, Rock the Block.

"I'm probably going to do 10 more things in my life," she says. "I'm just getting started."

Candace Braun DavisonDeputy EditorCandace Braun Davison writes, edits, and produces lifestyle content that ranges from celebrity features to roll-up-your-sleeves DIYs, all while relentlessly pursuing the noblest of causes: the quest for the world's best chocolate chip cookie.

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